Masquerade
by catie-writes-things
Summary: Zuko sneaks out as the Blue Spirit to look for the Avatar in Ba Sing Se. He ends up accidentally crashing a masquerade party in the upper ring, where a familiar blue-eyed girl decides to take an interest in him. He hadn't meant for any of this to happen.


Zuko hadn't meant for any of this to happen.

He had donned his Blue Spirit mask that night and snuck out of the apartment above the tea shop only hoping to find some clue as to where the Avatar was staying, if he was in fact in Ba Sing Se. He'd heard rumors the young airbender was in the city, and he knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he'd confirmed for himself if they were true or false. Beyond that, he had no plan.

He had started his search in the upper ring, figuring that if the Avatar were here, he would have been welcomed as a distinguished guest. Skulking around on rooftops and in dark alleyways, he'd overheard plenty of servants' gossip, but to his frustration learned far more about the scandalous relationship between Lady Zheng and her gardener than anything else. If the Avatar was here, those who served the well-to-do didn't seem particularly interested.

He was just about ready to give up the evening's reconnaissance as fruitless when a close brush with a pair of patrolling guards forced him to duck into a doorway, which turned out to be the back door of a kitchen. There was such a bustle of activity going on that at first no one noticed him, and when they did, to his surprise, he was shooed out as an intruder, not back into the alleyway from which he had come, but into the main part of the house.

When he stepped into the brightly-lit hall, he immediately understood why. There was a party in full swing, with some of the guests dancing and others making conversation in groups of two and three, but all wearing colorful costumes and masks. His own attire was certainly less opulent than most, but he could still see how he had been mistaken for one of the revelers at the masquerade.

Zuko relaxed slightly. All he would have to do was casually make his way across the hall to the exit, and then quietly slip out of the house. But he had barely taken more than five steps, skirting the perimeter of the room, when he was struck by the prickling sensation of being watched. Looking about warily, he saw a girl in a red and gold mask headed straight for him.

He could run for it, easily - the girl wasn't moving particularly quickly. But that might draw more suspicion. Whatever her intentions were, she couldn't know who he really was. And her easy manner suggested neither fear nor malice. As she drew nearer, he realized he was going to have to put up with her attention at least temporarily, and shake her at the first opportunity.

The girl was standing right in front of him now, and she placed her hands on her hips. "That's a bold costume choice," she said, but her tone was light, and she smiled. Her mask covered most of her face except her mouth and chin, and her dress was a matching red and gold, but now that she was close he could see her bright blue eyes. "Someone might mistake you for the real Blue Spirit and try to have you arrested," she teased.

Zuko shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he wracked his brain for something to say. "It's only the Fire Nation that's put a price on his head, last I heard," he replied carefully.

"True," the girl agreed, and the more she spoke the more Zuko began to suspect that there was something familiar about her. "But I don't know that the nobles of Ba Sing Se would like the idea of a dangerous outlaw in their midst, regardless."

The way she spoke of the Earth Kingdom nobility marked her as an outsider, and that raised Zuko's suspicions about her even further. "You're not from Ba Sing Se yourself?" he asked as casually as he could manage, still scanning the room for any sign of danger or an opening to extricate himself.

"Far from it," she replied dryly. "I'm actually from the Southern Water Tribe."

That was the last hint Zuko needed to put the pieces together. Of course he knew this girl. She was the Avatar's waterbending master. It was a miracle _she_ hadn't yet recognized _him_ by his voice - but then, he hadn't quite known her by her voice either. And she probably wasn't expecting to run into her old adversary here, of all places.

Still, this conversation had just gotten far more interesting.

"And what brings you so far from home?" he asked, giving the waterbender his full attention but trying to keep his tone light, as if they really were two strangers who just happened to meet at a party. He recalled vaguely that at some point he had learned her name was Katara, but he tried to push that thought aside - the party guest he was impersonating had no reason to know her name.

Katara sighed, looking away. "The war, of course," she said sadly, then shook her head. "But I don't really want to talk about that."

That was fine with Zuko. He didn't really want to talk about the war, either. He was more interested in whether the Avatar was at this party as well. "Did you, um, come here alone?" he asked, then winced at how awkward the question sounded.

But if Katara was suspicious of his reasons for asking, she didn't show it. In fact, she actually brightened at the change of subject. "Well, my brother and my friends _were_ here," she replied. "But the boys snuck off pretty early on, and Toph said she was going to find them, but I think she just wanted an excuse to leave." She gave a little shrug and blinked up at him from under her mask. "So yeah, now I'm on my own."

"I see," Zuko said, surprised that her friends would ditch her like that. It seemed rude. More importantly, it meant she didn't know where exactly the Avatar was at the moment. "And you don't think you need to go looking for them yourself?"

Katara smiled again, tilting her head slightly to one side so the strings of gold beads dangling from her elaborate hairstyle swayed against her neck. "There's only so much trouble they can get into in the upper ring," she reasoned. "And I was hoping someone would ask me to dance tonight."

Zuko took that as confirmation that the Avatar and his friends were in fact staying in the upper ring - as if their invitation to this party had left much doubt. But he couldn't think of a way to ask for more specifics about their lodging that wouldn't sound suspicious. And the waterbender was still looking up at him pointedly, expecting him to say something.

"I'm sure someone will," he said, and Katara frowned. Had he offended her somehow? "You know, since you're a pretty girl at a party," he hastily added by way of explanation. "And I doubt all the guys here are big enough idiots to ignore you." Her eyes went wide under her mask. "Not that I think your friends are idiots," he amended.

Katara sighed again, this time sounding frustrated. She turned and leaned her back against the wall next to him, arms crossed over her chest. "No, they are idiots," she said.

Zuko got the distinct impression she was beginning to think he was an idiot, too. But she stayed by his side, so however much he had blundered that exchange, he hadn't scared her off yet. The musicians finished the song they had been playing, and there was a tense moment of silence between them with only the chatter of the other guests' conversations as background noise. When the musicians struck up their next tune, Katara looked up at him again.

"I know this one," she said, giving him that same pointed look. "I bribed Toph into teaching me some of the Earth Kingdom dances." She spoke carefully and patiently. A feeling not unlike terror settled in the pit of Zuko's stomach. Was she actually expecting _him_ to ask her to dance?

Well, he still hadn't gleaned all the information he wanted from her, and if that was what it took to keep the conversation going… He plucked up his courage, stood a little straighter, and held out his hand. "Would you like to show me what you've learned?"

Immediately she smiled again. "I'd be delighted," she replied, taking his hand, and as Zuko led her to the dance floor, he was bizarrely reminded of their fight at the North Pole. Hopefully she wouldn't end up trying to encase him in ice this time.

The song was a slow waltz. Surreptitiously, Zuko studied the other couples already dancing and determined the Earth Kingdom style was not too different from the formal dances he'd been forced to learn. The waterbender's right hand still held in his left, he placed his other hand delicately on the small of her back. She let out a little gasp, and for half a moment Zuko was afraid he'd done something wrong again, but then she settled her own free hand on his upper arm.

His first attempt to guide her through the basic steps was quite clumsy - he was out of practice, and she seemed to get tangled in the full skirts of her dress. "Sorry," they both muttered in unison. "I'm not very…" Zuko began, at the same time that Katara said, "Wait, just let me…" She gathered up a handful of soft red fabric, lifting the hem of her skirts slightly. "There," she said, and when he tried leading her through the dance steps a second time they had greater success.

"Not the most practical outfit?" Zuko observed. He'd never seen the waterbender in anything so fancy before, and it was a rather strange picture, the girl that he associated with stinging water whips and cold, hard ice looking so soft.

Katara shrugged one shoulder as they danced their way around the floor. "I was wearing a lot less when I practiced," she said innocently.

Zuko nearly tripped over his own feet. "That's...interesting…" he choked out.

Katara must have realized what she had said, for her eyes darted away from him in embarrassment, and he could easily imagine she was blushing under her mask. "I mean, fewer skirts," she corrected herself. "A plainer dress. You know, everyday clothes."

"Of course," Zuko agreed, still feeling tongue-tied. He'd known that was what she meant, obviously. He knew the sort of simple blue dresses she usually wore. Still, the way she'd said it...

Following the other dancers' example, Zuko let go of the waterbender's waist and spun her around once. Her problematic skirts fanned out around her as she twirled. "You're pretty good at this," Katara said when they resumed the basic steps. She was smiling again.

"So are you," Zuko returned the compliment. For someone who couldn't have had more than a few informal lessons, she was demonstrating a fair amount of grace on the dance floor.

"Oh, you know, it's not that different from bending," Katara demurred. Zuko had never thought of it that way - his sister had certainly insisted the two were nothing alike, and made it very clear to their dance instructor which she preferred. But he supposed confidence and precision were key in both.

"I guess that's true," Zuko agreed.

The waterbender's blue eyes sparkled with interest. "Are you a bender, too?" she asked.

Zuko silently cursed himself. He was supposed to be getting information out of her, not giving things away about himself. "I mean, I can see how it would be similar, from what I've heard," he corrected himself awkwardly.

Katara didn't look fully convinced, but she didn't press the subject. "Have you lived in Ba Sing Se for a long time?" she asked instead.

"Long enough," Zuko replied evasively, looking to turn the conversation back to what he needed to know. "How about you?"

"Not long at all," the waterbender answered. "I think it took us more time to get into the city than we've actually spent here so far," she joked.

So the Earth King hadn't welcomed the Avatar with open arms right away? That was curious. He spun the girl again, thinking quickly. "Your connections in the upper ring couldn't help you?" he asked when she was facing him once again.

"Well, we had to make those connections first, didn't we?" Katara replied coyly. That didn't help Zuko at all, not giving him any hint where or with whom the Avatar might be staying. Belatedly, he realized that while Katara might be eager to dance with a mysterious stranger at a party, she was probably smart enough not speak too freely to someone she didn't know.

"And is the famous walled city living up to your expectations?" he asked in one last ditch attempt, just to see what she would say.

She tilted her head the way she had earlier, gold hair ornaments brushing against the dark skin of her neck again. "It's hard to say," she said. "We'll have to wait and see how things go."

Zuko found it hard to imagine things not going the Avatar's way, in the end. But he supposed that was precisely what he was hoping for. If he could just find the young airbender out, this time it would be different, because…

The song came to an end, and their dance with it. Zuko let his hands fall as they stilled, staring at Katara without really seeing her. What _did_ he expect to happen if he found the Avatar? Even if the boy's friends couldn't stop him, and Zuko managed to get him out of the city, and Azula didn't intercept them, and the airbender didn't escape…

The musicians started up another song, this one livelier than the waltz. Zuko and Katara were still standing awkwardly on the dance floor. "I'm not familiar with this one," Katara said softly.

"Me neither," Zuko replied honestly. It must be a newer Earth Kingdom dance, which never would have been included in his lessons.

"Let's get out of the way, then," Katara said, taking his hand once more and dragging him towards the table of refreshments. The waterbender helped herself to a glass of some pink beverage, and Zuko realized that he was thirsty as well, though it would be impossible for him to drink anything while wearing his mask.

"Now whose outfit is impractical?" Katara teased, as if she had read his mind. She took a deliberate sip of her drink to make her point.

"I'm fine," Zuko insisted stubbornly. It wasn't like he was about to pass out from dehydration. Though he probably should be making his excuses to leave soon. He doubted Katara was going to tell him anything more that interested him at this point. And it was getting late. He'd been out a long time. If Uncle realized he was gone, he might worry, or at the very least have some awkward questions for him when he got back. "I think I could just use some air, actually," he added.

Katara suddenly set down her glass. "You know what, that's a good idea," she said, grabbing hold of his arm. It was not the reaction he had expected, but he found himself with little choice but to let her accompany him towards the door. When they stepped out into the broad main street, lit with lanterns, the air was much cooler than it had been inside the party. Zuko hadn't even realized how hot he'd gotten in there, covered head to toe as he was.

Katara let out a small sigh of relief, but held onto his arm. He would have to think of some other way to shake her now. But nothing sprang to mind, and he found himself instead leading her aimlessly through the streets of the upper ring. As long as he had her on his arm, he realized, nothing would look amiss to anyone who passed them by - they were by all appearances just a young couple leaving a masquerade party.

"It's a lovely night," Katara commented.

"Yeah," Zuko agreed lamely, wondering what she was doing. Maybe she didn't even know herself. Maybe she _did_ know. Maybe she'd figured out who he was after all and this was all a trap. He noted with dismay that the street they were on led to a footbridge over a channel. Just what he needed, to be alone with a potentially hostile waterbender over a large source of water.

Katara slowed to a halt halfway across the bridge, dropping his arm at last, and Zuko braced himself for the attack. But she only reached for the ties at the back of her head that held her mask in place. She fiddled with the knot for a moment without success, then huffed in frustration and looked at him shyly. "Could you?" she asked.

"Alright," Zuko agreed. His mouth was very dry. This didn't feel like a trap - she didn't need the ruse of asking for his help to take off the mask to lure him closer, she'd certainly been close enough to him a moment ago. And she turned her back on him now, skirts swaying as she moved, head tilted forward to allow him to reach the ties in what could only be a show of trust. She would never have done that if she had known who he was.

He untied the ribbons as quickly as he could. They were soft under his fingers, and so was her hair, surprisingly. "There you go," he said, taking a hasty step back a soon as the ties were loose.

"Thanks," Katara replied gratefully, removing her mask with one hand and turning to face him again. She closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and took a deep breath, as if enjoying the freedom of the cool air on her face. When she opened her eyes again, they shone bright blue in the moonlight. "You can take yours off, too, you know," she said softly.

Zuko shook his head. "No," he said emphatically. That was the last thing he could do, under the light of the moon with water running under their feet, when his mask was the only thing keeping this girl from attacking him. But of course, she didn't know that, and only looked hurt at his refusal. "I'm sorry," he added impulsively as he retreated further from her. "I need to go."

"Okay," Katara said, not hiding her disappointment, but making no move to stop him. He turned away from her to leave, eager to get away at last. "Thanks for the dance!" the girl called after him, utterly sincere.

He froze. "It was my pleasure, Katara," he replied politely. And then he ran.

* * *

Katara remained on the footbridge for a long time after her mysterious companion left her, leaning on the railing and staring into the water below. She knew she really should try to find out where Aang and the others had wandered off to, but probably Toph had long since found the boys, anyway, and she was less worried about them in her company. And she needed a few moments to herself first to...collect her thoughts.

She didn't know what she had expected would happen. At first the stranger had just been an interesting costume, and then as good a potential dance partner as any. She had enjoyed dancing with him, of course, but there was something else about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on which intrigued her even more. Something mysterious, yes, but also oddly familiar, and even a little dangerous, about his voice. She'd never felt afraid of him, exactly, but she'd had the unshakable sensation that their entire conversation was highly charged. She had spoken to him carefully, but some of the things he had said...it was almost like he knew her. Was that why he had run away?

Her hands suddenly gripped the railing of the bridge tighter. _It was my pleasure, Katara,_ he had said before fleeing. But she had never told him her name.

A cool breeze ruffled her skirts, and Katara looked up at the moon, almost full. She knew she would find no more answers tonight, but she offered a silent prayer to Yue that someday she would be allowed to meet her elusive Blue Spirit again, and perhaps see him face to face.


End file.
